Food-chopper.



No. 726,991. PATENTED MAY 5, 1903.

M. A. ROLLMAN.

FOOD CHOPPER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 15, 1902.

2 SHBETSBHIEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

Wihwooea 0m 0 9 1 5 Y A M D E T N E T A P N A M L L 0 R A M L 9 9 am 2 7m N FOOD CHOPPER. APPLIOAVTIOK Hum my 15, 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

N0 MODEL.

liwwwom Macha-eZ/Z k zzmaw Patented May 5, 1903.

PATENT Fries.

MICHAEL A. ROLLMAN, OF MOUNT JOY, PENNSYLVANIA.

FOOD-CHOPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 0. 726,991, dated. May 5,1903. Application filed May 15, 1902. Serial No. 107,489. No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MICHAEL A. ROLLMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Mount Joy, in the county of Lancaster and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFood-Choppers; and I do hereby declare'the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

Myinvention has relation to food-choppers, and more particularly tocertain novel features of combination and construction of parts, thepreferred form whereof will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointedout in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which are apart of this application.

The prime object of my invention is to provide a food-chopper whichshall be composed of a few simple cooperating elements which whenassembled in their respective operative positions shall prove thoroughlyreliable and eflicient in the discharge of their office of finelydividing or cutting the particles of meat or other variety of food tothe desired extent or degree of fineness, the efficiency of the machinebeing as complete and reliable as any of the machines now on the marketand employed for this purpose, though possessing a much greater varietyof detail of construction and combination of elements.

A further object, among others, is to attain the greatest possiblesimplicity of construction without in any wise impairing the efliciencyof the few cooperatingparts.

A further object of my invention is to so combine the several parts thatthe actual Wear or cutting strain shall be placed upon hardened-steeldevices, thereby making it possible to utilize a lower and cheaper gradeof metal in forming the other parts.

Other objects and advantages will be hereinafter more clearly set forthin the following specification, which shall be considered in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective viewof my invention complete ready for use. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of myinvention as shown in Fig.

1 with the handle and supporting-standard broken away. Fig. 3 is aperspective detail view of the locking-bail employed to hold theseparable halves of the body when said parts are disposed in a lockedposition. Fig. 4 is an end elevation of my invention shown in Fig. 1.Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the worm or screw and parts connectedtherewith removed from the body portion or housing. Fig. 6 is an endelevation ofthe worm or screw illustrated in Fig. 5 with the cuttingdiskand regulating-screw removed. Fig. 7 is a detail view in elevation,showing the outer cutting-disk orrknife. Fig. 9 is a similar View of theinner cutting-disk. Fig. 8 shows a longitudinal central section of theouter end of the worm, showing the two cooperating cutting-disks partlybroken away and the relative positionof said parts and the clamping orregulating screw threaded into the end of said worm-shaft. Fig. 10 is adetail of outer end of worm. Fig. 11 is a sectional detail through thebail.

The details of my invention will be designated by numerals, while thecooperating elements or accessories will also be similarly referred to,the same numeral applying to a corresponding part throughout the severalviews.

In common with all machines in this art I provide a suitablesupportingstandard 1, having any preferred form of clamping-screw 2, bywhich said standard may be secured upon a shelf, table, or otherconvenient support, while preferably integrally formed with the upperportion of said standard is the semihopper-section 3,.provided, as isusual, upon one side with the extension 4, said parts being designed ascomplementary respectively to the hopper-section 5 and the integralextension thereof 6, said parts 5 and 6 being providedwith suitable ears7,preferably upon their under side, adapted to cooperate with the ears8, formed upon the sections 3 and. 4:. The semihopper-sections 3 and 5are provided upon that side contiguous tothe handle with aninwardly-directed lip or-fiange designed to be received by and fitsnuglyj within the groove 9, formed upon a contiguous part of thejournal 10, which latter may be readily formed, as by casting, as anintegral part of the thrusting screw or worm 11, which, as is commonwith this class of machines, is designed to fit within the housingformed .by the members 4 and 6, the outer end of said worm or screwbeing properly reduced or shaped to provide the journal-12, designed-toreceive and rotate Within the aperture 13, disposed centrally in thethin cutting-disk 14, the said disk being held againstrotation by theperipheral lug or ear 15, adapted to fit a suitable recess 16, formed bycutting away a served that the journal 12 thus finds a bearing orsupport in the aperture 13, in which it may be freely rotatedby turningthe handle 18, and in order that the food material which is thus beingforced outward by thescrew 11,

; through the plurality of apertures 19 in the stationary disk 14, maybe properly acted upon and severed into minute particles I providethe'cooperating cutting-disk 20, also having a plurality of apertures21, adapted to cooperatewith the apertures 19, said outer disk 20 beingalso provided with the centrally-disposed aperture 22, which should beoblong or angular in form and adapted to fit a corre-,

spondingly-shaped extension 23,formed uponthe extreme outer end of thejournal 12. By this construction and disposition of parts it will beclear that the outer cutting-disk 20 must necessarily move or rotatewith the worm l1, and as said cuttingdisks thus possess a relativemovement any desired degree of close proximity of the cutting-disks maybe effected by means of the thumb-screw 24,.

having its threaded shaft 25 diametrically seated in a threaded apertureprovided in the. end of the worm 11.

Since, therefore, the inner disk is held stationary while .the outerdisk rotates with the worm,the cooperating apertures 19 and 21 willproduce a shear-like cutting action, upon the material forcedtherethrough by the actuatingsorew or worm 11.

other complementing member, asuitable han By thus makingit possible toadjust therelationship of contact of the cutting-disks by means of saidset-screw a full compensation for any wearupon the edges of theapertures thereofis attained, inasmuch as the cuttingfaces of said disksare securely held in contact with each :other and any wear of said partsonly tends to more perfectly sharpen the extreme cutting parts thereof.

By reference to Fig. land other views it will be observed that I haveprovided a very simple locking device, whereby the two members of thesplit hopper are very securely locked in their operative relationship bymeans of the pivoted bail-like latch 26, said latch being so pivoted toone of the members, as by the rivets 27, that'it will receive and fitsnugly down upon the upper edge of the dle 28 being provided tofacilitate this adjustment of the bail or latch. If desired,.the loweredge of said bail may be slightly flared, as seen in Fig. 11, thusenabling it to present awedge-likeaction upon the edge of the hopper,and thereby draw the two hopper-sections very tightly and securely intoa locked position and also permitting said parts to be as quickly andeasily unlocked when it may be desirable to remove the worm and othercooperating parts, it being understood that the complementing-section 4maybe freely swung downward upon its hinges when said bail or latch hasbeen elevated.

I desire to call particular attention to the fact that the combinationand construction of parts above described makes it possible to employextremely thin material in the manufacture of the inner disk 14, thusreducing the friction incident to the passage of the material throughthe apertures practically to the point of wholly eliminating suchfriction, it only-being necessary to provide a thick ness for the saidinner disk as will be sufficient to sustain the end thrust of thematerial directed against it by the worm, and in this particularconnection I wish to call attention to the fact that the annular groove9, formed upon the handle end of the worm shaft or journal, is designedto hold the worm and the casing against relative movement, and since theperipheral edge of the inner disk is engaged and reinforced by restingin the grooves provided in a contiguous part of the, casing it followsthat said inner disk may be made of extremely thin material. In otherwords, since the worm or screw is heldagainst longitudinal movement by acontiguous portion of part of the casing fitting in the groove 9, itwill be obvious that the central portion of the inner disk is securelyheld by reason of its connection with the worm against buckling oroutward movement, and it follows, therefore, that the only part of saiddisk which receives and sustains the pressure of the material will be.the annular portion thereof between the peripheral edge which isengaged by the casing and the central portion which is engaged by theworm, thus making it clearly apparent that said inner disk may be madeextremely thin and that it will consequently possess a knife-likecutting capacity. Since, therefore, the worm has noend thrust againstthe inner disk and the groove 17is intended simply to keepthe inner diskapproximately in place for the performance of its office and also toprovide a bearing for the end of the worm, it is desirable to providemeans to prevent the central part of said disk from moving outward, andthis is accomplished by means of the outer disk and the screw 24. stItwill be understood that for cheap conruction no great accuracy isneoessa ry in providing the groove 17 to receive the peripheral edge ofthe disk 14, thus admitting the castings comprising the casings to becheaply IIO and expeditiously manufactured. It is further obvious thatthe groove 17 also prevents the material being forced out around theedge of the disk 14; and that all of the outer thrust of the material onthe inner disk is supported by the outer disk, which outer disk, it willbe understood, should be made of sufficientlyheavy material to withstandall undue pressure which may possibly be brought against it.

As will be clearly apparent by reference to the drawings, this outer andheavier disk is firmly attached to the worm and the worm is securelyheld in place by the groove 9, as hereinbefore stated. I thereforedesire to accentuate the statement that said inner disk 14 can be madeof extremely thin material or just heavy enough to prevent any part ofit which registers with or comes over the holes 21 in the outer diskfrom buckling or moving outward. Conversely, it follows that if thereshould be any back thrust of the worm upon the groove the part of thecasing fitting said groove will minimize the thrust in such direction,while no possible damage could be done to the inner disk 14 by reason ofthe fact that the outer disk 14 will fully reinforce said inner disk,inasmuch as said outer disk may be made to cover the entire outer sideof the inner disk except the extreme outer edges thereof engaged by thegroove 17.

Should the inner disk be reduced to such degree of thinness that therewill be any tendency to buckle or bend outward against the strain of thematerial, such outward bend would actually prove desirable andbeneficial, inasmuch as the cutting part of said inner disk will therebybe forced all the more tightly against the contiguous face of the outerdisk, thus insuring that the cutting process will be absolutely perfect.

Since the office of the outer disk is to sever the particles of foodprotruding through the apertures 19 no resistance is offered by saiddisk to the outward movement of the material. It is now common to employan inner cutting-disk of sufficient thickness to sustain the entire endthrust of the material, and consequently the friction of forcing thematerial through the cutting-apertures is very considerable.

It will be seen from a consideration of the the disk of the end thrustor force of the worm by the simple device above described or theequivalent thereof I am actually enabled to reinforce the centralportion of the disk against outward movement by means of its connectionwith said worm, and thereby limit the strain upon the disk to thatdirected against it by the material driven by the worm, thus, as isobvious, making it possible to employ extremely thin stock in theformation of the inner cutting-disk, enabling such disk to be easily,cheaply, and expeditiously stamped out of sheet-steel.

It will of course be understood that an equivalent device or substitutefor the groove 9 may be employed, my idea and invention being to placethe strain of the end thrust of the worm in either direction upon thehousing itself, thus leaving the outer disk on the. end of the Worm tobe utilized as a reinforcement for the thin cutting-disk. The innerfaces of the housing cooperating with the worm may be properly roughenedor spirally corrugated, as is common, to facilitate the proper movementof the material toward the cutting-disk.

Various modifications or changes, it is obvious, may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A combined casing and hopper formed in two parts hinged together, anda bail pivoted to one hopper-section and embracing the other to lock thesections together, the bail and one section being formed to seat thebail substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A combined casing and hopper formed in two parts hinged together anda bail pivoted to one hopper-section and embracing the other to lock thesections together, one of said sections being formed with a lug or stopfor the bail, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination with asuitable casing, of a feeding-screw mounted in said casing, a stationaryinner disk having its edge seated in a groove in the casing and of suchflexibility as to be flexed by the thrust of the material being cut, anda reinforcing cooperating outer disk carried by and rotatable with saidfeeding-screw, substantially as described. I

4. In a machine of the character described, the combination with asuitable casing having a circumferential groove at its outer end, of afeeding-screw mounted in said casing; a stationary inner disk having itsedge seated in said circumferential groove and of such flexibility as tobe flexed by the thrust of the material being cut, and reinforcingcooperating outer disk rotatable with said feedingscrew, said disksbeing provided with cooperating apertures constructed to produce ashear-like cutting action upon the material.

5. In a machine of the character described, the combination with asuitable casing formed in two parts and hinged together, of afeeding-screw mounted in said casing; a stationary inner disk of thinmaterial of such flexibility as to be flexed by the thrust of the ma-ICC IIO

terial being cut, a reinforcing cooperating outer disk rotatable withsaid feeding-screw and a thumb-screw having its threaded shaftdiametrically seated in a threaded aperture in the end of saidfeeding-screw and bearing against the outer disk, adapted to adjust therelationship of said disks as and for the purpose set forth.

6. In a food-chopper, the com bination with the feeding-screw, thejournal of which is provided with a circumferential groove, of atwo-part hopper, each half being provided upon one end with aninwardly-directed lip designed to be received by and fit snugly withinsaid groove, said disk being of such flexibility as to be flexed by thethrust of the material being out, said hopper-sections each beingprovided with an extension having on the inner side of its outer end agroove 17, a stationary disk seated in said groove and of suchflexibility as to be flexed by the thrust of the material being cut, areinforcing-disk attached to and movable with the feedingscrew anddisposed in close contact with said stationary disk, to resist thethrust of the material being cut, and means for clamping thereinforcing-disk to the screw and for regulating the relationship ofcontact of the disks, to vary the cut, as and for the purpose set forth.

7. In a food-chopper, the casing formed in two complementary sectionspivotally secured together, and a bail pivotally mounted at its ends toone of said sections and having its lower edge flared to give it a wedgeaction and adapted to embrace and to fit over the outer edge of theother section as and for the purpose set forth.

8. In a food-chopper, the casing formed in two complementary sectionspivotallysecured together, and a bail pivotally mounted at its ends tothe end of one of said sections and having its lower edge flared togiveita wedge action and adapted to embrace and to fit over the outeredge of the other section and provided at its outer end with aprojecting flange forming a handle, said sections having coincidentrecesses and a disk having a lug adapted to fit said recess and be heldthereby against rotation, a feeding-screw having a bearing for its outerend in said stationary disk and a reinforcing-disk for said stationarydisk mounted on and adapted to move with said screw, and a thumb-nutbearing against the reinforcing-disk and adjustable in the feed-screw,all substantially as shown and described.

In a food-chopper, a suit-able exterior casing formed of twocomplementing pivotally-connected sections, each having asemihopper-section and a lateral extension which when placed togetherwill form a housing, said housing having a lip; a feeding-screwrotatably mounted in said housing, the end of the shaft of said screwhaving a circumferential groove adapted to receive a corresponding lipof said housing whereby the langitudinal thrust imparted to said screwby the contents of the casing will be checked, all substantially asspecified and for the purpose set forth.

10. The combination with a suitable casing formed in two parts andhinged together, each of said parts having upon one end coincidentvertically disposed grooves and upon the other inwardly-directed lips,of a feedingscrew mounted in saidcasing and having upon one end acircumferential groove adapted to receive said lips and upon the otherend a cutting-disk havinga central aperture loosely receiving the end ofsaid screw and adapted to have its peripheral edge seated in saidgrooves, said disk being of such flexibility as to be flexed by thethrust of the material being out unless supported exteriorly, and areinforcing cutting-disk fixedly secured to the feeding-screw upon theouter side of said fixed disk to enable said flexible disk to resist thethrust of the material being cut, and a set-screw carried by the end ofthe feedingscrew and adapted to bear against the outer disk whereby thelatter will rotate with the screw and may be brought to bear tightly orloosely against the inner cutting-disk, all substantially as specifiedand for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MICHAEL A. ROLLMAN.

Witnesses:

HENRY M. STAUFFER, CORA LEIB.

